Software testing is a natural – and essential – part of product development. Effective software testing will be independent, objective, and follow a standardised framework and reporting structure.

It’s highly important that testers have formal qualifications in software testing to show they understand the importance of thorough and objective testing, as well as the tools and techniques for the task.

The ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) is a non-profit European company, offering a framework that meets businesses’ requirements for effective software testing.

ISTQB testers need to have taken the official exams from the Chartered Institute for IT (formally ISEB) after undertaking a formal ISTQB Software Testing training course. Our ISTQB training courses include the relevant exams on the final day.

Advantages of having the ISTQB software testing certification

• ISTQB is the fastest growing software tester certification in the world
• ISTQB is recognised worldwide
• ISTQB freely offers the ISTQB certification syllabus and glossary – you choose your own accredited provider
• ISTQB is has been developed by more than 100 global experts, offered in more than 47 countries, and multiple languages
• There are more than 100,000 certified software testers worldwide
• The ISTQB software testing certification is the most widely recognized and fastest-growing software tester certification in the world
• ISTQB is practical and applicable to different projects – it complements the way you work
• Although theory is important, ISTQB certification is based around practical applications of software testing scenarios – designed to demonstrate that you have the knowledge and skills needed for your everyday testing challenges
• ISTQB is trusted, so you’ll feel good about your choice for years to come
• ISTQB is the world’s only not-for-profit organization dedicated solely to providing practical, globally-accepted software tester certification – so you can trust ISTQB to give you certification that is based on raising the standard of the industry – not the bottom line of a corporation

ISTQB Software Testing Qualification Levels

Another benefit of ISTQB is that there are a number of qualification levels, meaning companies can have employees at different levels or for slightly different reasons:

• Foundation – More than just an introduction to the syllabus, the training and exam shows qualification in ISTQB software training to a professional level. Project managers, IT managers and CEOs in organisations that carry out software testing will often find this level of training useful in order to have a general understanding of what it entails.
• Intermediate – A step up from foundation, the Intermediate training will lead to the ISTQB Intermediate certificate and is a prerequisite for the ISTQB Practitioner exam.
• Advanced – The specialisms of Advanced certificates give companies the benefit of only sending their employees through training and certification directly related to the field they will be using it in.

Companies like using ISTQB for software testing because it is unbiased, global and flexible. The different qualification levels means training can benefit a huge amount of employees directly and indirectly working with an organisation’s software development.

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One of the questions put to Google’s Pierre Far at the Ask the Search Engines panel at BrightonSEO last week was of whether Google test new software products and redesigns before releasing them.

Of course, the answer was ‘yes’ – and the questioner was sternly instructed how to ensure Google pay attention to their feedback – see minute 24 of the full panel video for Pierre’s response.

“Didn’t You Test This?”

Martin Belam recently wrote an article about Beta tests, specifically of a new threaded comments system on the Guardian’s website. He cited reader comments along the lines of “didn’t you test this?” – where the answer being that the software they’re using is, in fact, the test. The user in question hadn’t realised that they were viewing one of just six (from 1.4 million) articles that had been chosen to test the new system.

Another notable example of how early releases lead to criticism include BBC Sport, who had to post a lengthy blog post in February in reaction to a huge amount of negative feedback from users. Facebook is similarly often subject to negativity from users after updates.

Releasing software too early can damage your brand’s reputation. If early users find your product too hard to use, they may walk away – and take a lot of persuading to come back.

Trying to manage user expectation is one way around this…but users don’t always realise they are viewing a beta and may assume any problems are consistent across all products and services.

Our Software Testing training is ISEB/ISTQB Accredited and includes Software Testing Foundation training, Software Testing Intermediate training and Advanced certificates for test managers, test analysts and technical test analysts.

Here some tips for making use of an early release model:

Know Your Product

Not all companies can take the risk of releasing their product too early. Online products can be quickly revised with no real effect on the user, but not everyone has time to keep downloading software updates or add-ons. App developers, in particular, should keep this in mind.

Monitor Feedback

Inviting feedback from users – in an area away from the product – is one way to minimise damage. The Guardian’s threaded comments update is a great example of this: they created a thread especially for feedback, ensuring the only comments left on articles were related to the article topic.

Monitor responses on social media – as Pierre Far pointed out at Brighton SEO, people often forget that no software can improve unless suggestions are given in a constructive manner on a relevant platform.

Constructive feedback?

Think Before You React

Listening to user comments on early releases does not mean that you should react impulsively to feedback. You will have tested your software throughout development; the decisions you made in the planning and testing phases will be valid ones and certainly should not be thrown aside because of negativity from early users.

Never overlook the fact that those with small gripes are always going to be more prone to leaving feedback than those who are happy with the service.

Stay Positive

If you’ve chosen to release a product early, then you are automatically accepting that you’ll get feedback that must be monitored, listened to and acted on. If you start resenting your users for their feedback then nobody wins.

If in doubt, explain yourself. The BBC Sport blog post is a great example of a website having to stop in its tracks, listen to feedback, explain the reasoning behind developments and where these fit with the big picture. The key message from the BBC was that changes were part of an ongoing series of developments – and that feedback will be listened to.

Lessons Learned

Whilst it does seem to many observers that Facebook, Google and media outlets such as the Guardian Online are trigger-happy with releasing their new products, a bit of openness around the need for live testing can help improve the user experience.

Releasing a new product to the public domain is a quick and inexpensive way of avoiding months of expensive in-house testing. As long as users realise they are part of a testing processes, their expectations can be managed and feedback can be gained in a constructive – rather than destructive – manner.

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Software testing is important to ensure that products are market ready when they go to production. Too many businesses have become notorious for faulty products and broken software. Software testing is an in demand skill, and many businesses are looking to employ accredited testers. We offer ISEB and ISTQB accredited software testing training courses from Foundation to Advanced level.

Hacking Competitions

Competitions are a popular way for testers to meet up and test their skills with the limits of the law. Contestants are encouraged to hack products and if successful receive the product they have hacked and/or a cash incentive.

At this year’s Pwn2Own hacking competition at CanSecWest, Google Chrome was the first piece of technology defeated. Chrome had resisted all attempts at hacking in last year’s competition, which makes the winning time of five minutes, by a group of French hackers known as Vupen, all the more impressive.

Google Chrome had, in fact, been the only browser left standing at the 2011 Pwn2Own, which may explain why hackers were so eager to take it down. Chaouki Bekrar, the research head and co-founder of Vupen, told ZDNet, “We wanted to show that Chrome was not unbreakable. Last year we saw a lot of headlines that no one could hack Chrome. We wanted to make sure it was the first to fall this year.”

Bekrar has refused to reveal the full details of Vupen’s exploits, including whether it targeted third-party code. However, the group released a video earlier this year which showed them hacking Chrome using flash, and which Google rejected for the same reason. Google Chrome’s blog speculates that they may have used a similar exploit during the competition.

Vupen was not the only group to go after Google Chrome. It was attacked a second time, and within only a few hours, at Pwn2Own. Chrome also failed in Pwnium, another competition held at CanSecWest which Google had sponsored.

Despite hackers’ eagerness to take down Google Chrome for the mere prestige of it – as well as for the prize money of up to $60,000 offered by HP – Google seems to have been adamant to have it hacked. At Pwnium, hackers were offered up to one million dollars to take down Google Chrome.

$1 Million for a Hack?

Sadly, no one competitor could get the full $1m – Google was offering $40,000 for partial Chrome exploits and $60,000 for full Chrome exploits, with a consolation prize of $20,000 for general bugs such as those occurring in Flash. The $1m was intended to be spread across prize winners, meaning that although there was plenty of motivation for competitors it was really along the same lines as Pwn2Own.

Google was willing to put up the full $1m in order to develop its product better and avoid hackers using defects for nefarious purposed such as the Anonymous threat to Symantec. Google Chronium’s blog states “While we’re proud of Chrome’s leading track record in past competitions, the fact is that not receiving exploits means that it’s harder to learn and improve. To maximise our chances of winning this year, we’ve upped the ante.” Google decided not to sponsor Pwn2Own this year because it changed the rules, allowing competitors to enter without revealing full exploits or bugs. The Pwnium contest was launched so that Google could see the exploit in its entirety and find out where improvements could be made. Google has also promised to send non-chrome bugs to the appropriate vendor immediately.

Google’s insistence on being able to see what is being done by hackers shows its interest in paying for knowledge, not just sponsorship. However, its interest and investment in the safety of Chrome shows just how important the browser is to Google. And a determination to maintain good workmanship is surely nothing to be sniffed at.

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From the initial conception, to the design and development and even the finished product testing should occur to keep the product on task for completion.

ISEB/ ISTQB Foundation Software Testing Training teaches delegates about testing throughout the entire software life cycle.

Testing at the last stage is inadvisable as any necessary changes will mean running the product back through the entire process.

Testing should be done at four stages:

• Planning
• Design
• Development
• End product

The below diagram shows how a problem at each stage of the software cycle can affect the final product:

Testing During the Planning Stage

The Design and Development stages may be spot on, but if the wrong requirements are introduced during the planning stage then the wrong product will be produced. Ensuring that all the correct requirements are in place is vital to design and development of the correct product.

Finding flaws in the requirement at the end of the cycle could mean the entire process has to be done from scratch.

Testing During the Design Stage

It is common knowledge that designers do not think like testers. They often come up with their idea for the perfect product without considering possible bugs and issues. If the testing team does not pick these flaws up at this stage then the developers will create a product as per the design but the design defects will be evident.

Testing During the Development Stage

The last thing a developer wants to hear after slaving away over a piece of code is that it works, but not quite to spec or to the aims of the requirements or designs. A rogue developer may be tempted to stray away from well conceived designs if they believe doing something different will make their lives easier.

Not only must the testing team ensure the developers stay on task but also that everything works.

Testing At the End of Development

This is the most obvious stage of testing – before the software goes to market. This only one step away from the customer and so the product must be as close to perfection as required. If testing has occurred at the other three stages then final testing should be relatively simple but if not then the testing team has a lengthy task on their hands and could find defects that send the software back to square one.

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News stories like this show how important software testing is for security. Software defects have the potential to cost a business far more than its reputation. Hackers can take advantage of software defects to blackmail businesses for financial gain. Here’s an example of this practice in real life from our guest blogger Alex Smith…

A group of hackers has attempted to blackmail security software company, Symantec in exchange for keeping stolen source code private.

The hackers released a batch of emails to the public that were sent from the FBI posing as Sam Thomas a representative of Symantec.

Officers from the FBI offered the hackers $50,000 or £32,000 in return for the stolen source code. Since negotiations have broken down more source code has been released which is obviously a major concern for Symantec and their customers.

Symantec have been working closely with the FBI after being contacted by the hackers in January.

Our Software Testing Training courses are all accredited to provide delegates with an industry recognised software testing qualification. Get a foot in the door of the software testing industry by learning the best practice approach through ISEB/ ISTQB courses.

It is believed that the hackers are affiliated with the Lords of Dharmaraja who are part of the hacking group Anonymous.

If this is true it is unusual as attacks from Anonymous are usually politically motivated instead of being use to hold companies to ransom. Last year the group threatened to shut down 60,000 Facebook servers.

In the series of emails the hackers are asked to make a statement to the public saying that the hack was a hoax.

Source code stolen

On Tuesday an account belonging to Anonymous revealed that over a GB of the Symantec source code from the PC Anywhere Software had been uploaded to the file sharing site, The Pirate Bay.

Symantec did not comment on this announcement but to be on the safe side they have provided advice for businesses using the PC Anywhere Software.

Risky business

After the January hack all users of PC Anywhere where told to stop using it where possible causing disruption for thousands of businesses.

PC Anywhere provides users with remote desktop and remote access services. Symantec have confirmed that the hackers stole the old source code but this has exposed weaknesses in the latest version of the software.

PC Anywhere was not the only software to be affected. Symantec also revealed that their Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Internet Security has also been affected.

Despite this only PC Anywhere has been compromised, Symantec are releasing information and patches to help businesses deal with any security issues.

Difficult times

This obviously causes huge problems for Symantec who have built a reputation for providing security and anti-virus software.

This crisis is obviously going to damage the brand name among their customers. The most worrying issue is that most users of PC Anywhere are businesses exposing further risks to  Symantec’s customers.

Symantec are not the first organisation to be targeted by Anonymous after attacking the American Department of Justice last year and most recently the Syria’s ministry of presidential affairs.

Alex Smith is an IT blogger with an avid interest in IT security services and security software.

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Even the best Software Testers don’t pick up every problem and sometimes a bug that is deemed unimportant is picked up by users as a critical issue. Releasing a product that seems unfinished into the public domain may seem counter-productive but it is known to work. Often businesses do this with beta testing – only releasing to a small number of users with warnings that the product is unfinished and an expectation of feedback. Google released almost all of their products early and then makes changes as they go. This means that the finished product is always better at the time of full release than one with no user testing. However, testing is still a critical element of releasing new software and so software testers are still in high demand. Without professional testing, product launches are likely to be hampered by issues unnoticed during development. The best testers are trained testers so please enquire about our accredited ISEB/ISTQB Software Testing Training courses by browsing the websites or calling us on 01273 622272 for more information.

If you have taken the time to research some business terminology then you will probably be familiar with the term ‘iteration cycle’. The idea behind this is that you release your product out into the wild, see how it does, and then improve on it based on the feedback you get.

So in other words, you might release a website, notice that no one is staying on it very long or visiting your other pages, and so improve your navigation and layout. That’s one cycle – release, feedback, edit.

The Power of Iteration Cycles

The idea behind an iteration cycle then is that you are basically evolving your product to meet demand, this means that you are changing it based on what people are telling you and what the figures are telling you, and that then means it’s impossible to have a ‘flop’. Instead of going back to the drawing board, you make a series of tweaks to the product or package until it’s the perfect thing that everyone wants. Just as we evolved from Neanderthals into humans, so too can a website, program or hair shampoo evolve from an ugly duckling into a masterstroke of creativity and marketing.

How to Use Iteration Cycles

So how do you go about using iteration cycles to evolve your own business? Well thankfully if you work largely on the net then this makes things rather easy as you can make immediate changes to the things you have out there and it’s easy to collect lots of data. Two tips though are: a) to release things before they are finished and to never consider your work ‘done’ and b) to collect as much data as possible. If you aren’t on Google Analytics or something similar then get on it right now. Asking for feedback and doing market research is also a great idea.

What you need to know about the ISEB/ ISTQB Foundation in Software Testing.

Iteration Cycles and the Future

As mentioned, the fact that you can alter things immediately and collect real time data means that the internet is perfectly set up for this kind of social evolution of products and services, and it’s possible to innovate and iterate in very effective ways.

One brilliant example is the gaming found on social networking sites and the ‘Split A/B tests’ some of them employ. Here a game is released to millions of people and the stats are measured to see how well its doing. A change is then suggested based on those stats, but then is only implemented for a small selection of the users. The stats of those users with the 2.0 version are then compared to the stats from the original group, and it’s decided based on that whether the edit was a success or not. Via Split A/B testing it’s possible to ensure that absolutely every change that’s made is a hit and beneficial for the success of the product. It’s creativity, but as a science.

Jeet is an internet enterprenuer. Though he can’t design to save his life, he has been part of a lot of such interation cycles for both products and websites. He continuously keeps improving his link building company’s website.

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This is an intuitive method of software testing in which Facebook only have to pay out when users find bugs – much cheaper than hiring a whole software development team. Having access to a huge variety of software testers is also an advantage as they combine different skills and experiences to find bugs that others may miss.

Last year Sony revealed last year that 12700 credit card details were stolen by hackers, leading to the closure of their PSN online network for 23 days to the dismay of millions of its users. The cost of the outage was huge to the massive technology firm’s reputation, as well as its wallet, having to give out compensation packs to lure its tiring and agitated user base of over 77 million back in. This shows that even the biggest companies in the world can make oversights in testing and as a result be held hostage by hackers.

These flaws are more important to the users, whose information they willingly give up to sites and is at risk of being exposed and stolen against their will. And when that comes to bank details many users will find that to be a deal breaker when it comes to using that service again in the future.

To find out more about what bugs are common in software take a look at our Top 10 Reasons for Bugs in Software post.

Facebook’s new method to prevent information leakage is to offer hackers who have found an exploit within the social network, of over 800 million members, is to give them a debit card.

The new White Hat debit cards are given to researchers who have found a security hole within Facebook. The recipients can use the card like any other debit card and if they follow their security flaw with further discoveries then Facebook will add more funds to the card.

The rewards vary depending on how critical the exploit is deemed to be, with rewards ranging from $500 to $5000. Since the bug bounty program has been set up they have paid out 81 times, including several of the top rewards, indicating that potentially critical security flaws were rolled out without being flagged up in the testing stage of development.

The big question is whether or not these rewards are enough to convince hackers into handing over the flaw without taking any data first, especially when they are far more likely to earn more money by selling the data on via the black market. So does $5000 sound like a reasonable amount for something that may cost a huge multinational company millions?

Some companies offer more than just immediate financial compensation to these ‘white hat’ hackers, with several companies offering them full time positions to help improve system security and testing measures. A great example of hacker gone pro is the high profile case of George Hotz, the iPhone jail breaker and Playstation 3 modder, who was given a permanent role working on security issues at Facebook.

So are these efforts enough to convince the ‘black hat’ hackers to give up their old ways and go legit? Or should they be more concerned about thorough testing before a product is launched?

Either way, there is no substitute for comprehensive testing to nip any potential flaws in the bud before it’s too late. This is why proper Software Testing Training should be an essential for any software tester or researcher.

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These patents have the potential to boost Google’s social network, Google+, and many of its other services by helping them to fulfil the promise of creating a semantic web. This could allow Google+ to identify experts in particular topics in order to identify people with common interests within the network. It would do this by analysing the content of any content posted or read by the user in order to rank them by expertise, helping you get in touch with the most knowledgeable person within your extended network. From a software testing perspective, this would mean being able to find testers who have the most experience or expertise in particular field easily and accurately.

Giving hasn’t been IBM’s only activity this year so far. The giant technologies company has also purchased Green Hat, a company that specialises in cloud software testing. Cloud computing has been touted as the future of computing; connecting all of your files and data to all of your devices to be accessed anytime, anywhere. However, there are many obstacles that must be faced before a cloud based app is ready to be let out into the wild.

Take a look at this video interview with software testing guru, Fred Beringer, for an introduction to Cloud Testing.

As well as compatibility issues (especially in the mobile field) a lot of focus has to be put upon security, as by having your files free to be accessed from any device anywhere, it also implies that without rigorous security your data is free to be accessed by anyone. This is where testing comes in, a process which is reported to take up more than 50% of total development costs. This makes IBM’s move a wise one.

Green Hat’s expertise and experience in cloud development will surely enhance IBM’s Rational Solution section which creates lifecycle management tools to aid in agile software development and testing. They are also making the services available to third party developers through their Global Business Services’ Application Manager Services (AMS).

Kristof Kloeckner, general manager of Rational Solutions, said, “Together, we offer the most complete solution available today for agile software development and testing, with flexible options such as the cloud. Green Hat’s application virtualization capabilities will help our customers accelerate their delivery of business critical software.”

These tools certainly will help boost and speed up the development of cloud computing, helping developers push it to what it is capable of under current, and future, technologies and infrastructures.

So with software testing still being such an important part of the development process why not look into software testing training courses. With foundation, intermediate and advanced software testing training options available all standards are covered, helping you get the most out of your programs.

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With apps becoming increasingly popular and complex the need for testing has never been higher, but with so many smartphone platforms, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile (and then there’s the tablets!), each of which running different software versions, button layouts, screen sizes and sporting different hardware, covering all of your bases is becoming a time consuming and expensive task.

As well as the software and hardware differences between devices you also have to take into account the number of mobile phone networks that the devices operate on. This makes the number of unique combinations to test vast! So buying one of every type of phone isn’t a practical solution. Especially as there are over 350 types of Android device alone!

Luckily there are other ways which when used will bring your testing time and expenditure down considerably. Here are seven of our favourites:

1. Select Your Supported Platforms

By selecting the handsets you want your app to run on you can slash your testing time dramatically. Even in the app planning stage look at what hardware your app needs to use, for example: does it require GPS? or does it use a front facing camera? You will find that there will be a lot of handsets which don’t have the necessary hardware or OS to support your app. These can instantly be discarded from your testing program before you’ve even got to that stage.

Another way of limiting your devices is by selecting what OS versions you want to cover. For example, creating an app for the latest version of Android will bring down the number of supported devices, but will also reduce your target audience, so a balance needs to be found.

2. Buy a Sample of Devices

While simulation helps with testing an app’s interface it isn’t much good for stress testing an app. Using the physical device to multi-task on and to test out multiple button presses on is far more accurate. But it isn’t possible to test the app on everything.

One way to do it is through bounds testing; where you find what the app’s top and bottom limits are and use a selection of devices that can stretch theses limits. Once you know how far these bounds can go you get a clearer idea of what devices it will run on.

3. Emulators and Simulators

Instead of trying every handset one by one, emulation allows you to run multiple simulations on a computer. This is a great method for testing out the look and feel of the app on different sized screens and resolution. However, it doesn’t give you much detail into how each handset will render apps or how it will react with any device specific glitches that may be part of the handset.

4. Diagnostics

An increasingly popular way for developers to get testing information is directly from their users themselves.Diagnostic software is regularly built into apps and software so that the developer can receive a detailed reporteach time their app crashes. This allows developers to tailor future updates to fix any problems that have been identified as well as being able to add new features for their users.

5. Send it to the Lab

There is in fact an industry created for testing software on mobile devices. It is possible to hire a company who will test your app on their banks of computers and mobile devices. This is also something you can do remotely, so everything can be done over the web, even with the possibility of monitoring everything through webcam.

While there is no guarantee that all apps can be tested using this method, if yours does meet their standards this is one of the most cost effective methods of comprehensive mobile app testing.

6. Crowdsourcing

Why not delegate your testing duties to crowdsourced beta testers? You can get a wide range of handsets and language types tested this way, as well as being able to get useful user feedback. There are even companies such as Mob4hire who will source your testers for you.

7. Testing Units

Many hardware manufactures have development programs which developers can sign up to in order to directly receive testing units to use. Each manufacture runs a different scheme, ranging from a short term loan to a free handset if you’re lucky. Either way, it’s still a cheaper method than buying each handset new.

If you are yet to make an app, let alone test one, then why not have a look at Silicon Beach Training’s Android App Development course and iPhone App Development course.

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